Short, short commentaries on note-worthy things.

Menu

Billboard Blues

This ABS-CBN article reports:

President Arroyo ordered Wednesday an ocular inspection of all the country’s billboards to check if these comply with local building regulations. [ABS-CBN]

Of course they comply with local building regulations because some idiotic engineer gave his/her approval! The billboards wouldn’t be there unless they get some sort of permit from the local government. What needs to be check are the standards of those regulations. How exactly do they check the integrity of those gigantic billboards? Do contractors have statistical data that their billboards can withstand the thrashing of strong winds?

I’m guessing that they’re purely based on engineering/mathematical calculations submitted by the contractors of those bilboards. Theoretically, they’re supposed to withstand strong winds up to a certain extent. But why build the structure just to meet the standards? Sheesh.

Everybody knows that our country is on the war path of typhoons. And yet looking at EDSA alone, do we really need an engineering degree to see how dangerous those billboards are given their locations along a highly-traversed road?

Lastly, it’s just irritating to see how every single damn space is being turned into an advertising/marketing opportunity – from walls to floors, from pedicabs to buses. The fact that these are intended to attract attention clearly suggests that they also distract people , particularly drivers. Thus, billboards – regardless of size – are road hazzards from a collective perspective.